Giancarlo Fisichella

Fisichella's decision to go to Sauber has certainly done his reputation no harm, as this season has put in a series of impressive drives into the points, and has put team mate Felipe Massa into the shade. But no performance was as spectacular as that at Silverstone, and it must surely have pushed him up a notch or two on the list of possible candidates that Frank Williams is pondering.

At Silverstone Friday engine failure saddled Fisi with a 10-place penalty. It was particularly frustrating as a new engine cover was on the car for the British event, and it was clear that it had made a huge difference to performance. That expensive wind tunnel is paying off.

At both Imola and the Nurburgring problems put Giancarlo to the back, and this time the team filled up the tank for a long first stint and left the car in the garage for qualifying, a strategy that saw him start 20th and dead last.

Lap 1: Passes Baumgartner, Bruni, Panis (17th)
Lap 2: Passes Heidfeld (16th)
Lap 6: Passes Pantano (15th)
Lap 9: Alonso pits (14th)
Lap 10: Gene pits (13th)
Lap 11: Coulthard pits (12th)
Lap 12: Montoya pits (11th)
Lap 14: Trulli pits (10th)
Lap 15: Da Matta and Klien pit (8th)
Lap 16: Sato pits (7th)
Lap 17: Webber and Massa pit (5th)

So Giancarlo was now up to fifth, behind only Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, all of whom had made early stops. Incredibly he stayed out until lap 23. Showing just how much fuel he was carrying. When he emerged he was still in eighth place, a direct result of some impressively fast lappery on old tyres. Then the second round of stops began:

Lap 30: Montoya pits (7th)
Lap 31 Coulthard pits (6th)
Lap 32: Trulli pits (5th)

Giancarlo now held a legitimate fifth place, as apart from Michael Schumacher all the top runners had just one stop to come. The safety car allowed everyone to make it for 'free'. Sauber had been worried about a fall in the engine's air pressure, and took the opportunity to fill up the system. Unfortunately there was a problem, and the slight delay allowed Juan Pablo Montoya to get out of the pits in fifth.

"The air pressure was down drastically," explained team manager Beat Zehnder. "So we had to refill it in the second pit stop. The guy that refilled it, when he went on with the nozzle he broke off the carbon bracket, and he couldn't get the nozzle off. That's why we lost two seconds, and Montoya's place. But at least we made it to the end. I was a little bit worried that the engine was going to blow."

From the stop to the flag Fisi continued to push the Williams, eventually finishing just 0.7s behind it.

This was an astonishing performance by any standards. From the back of the grid he was ahead of a McLaren, a Renault, a BAR and a Williams. Not a single car that was ahead of him actually retired, and while he didn't pass many on the track, what made the two stops work was his consistently quick lappery when it counted.

He actually set the fifth fastest lap of the race, quicker than any by Montoya and just 0.259s slower than the best by runner-up Kimi Raikkonen. I think the correct word is 'Wow!'

The team was in full party mood, and Peter Sauber was beaming from ear to ear when he greeted his man: 'Without the problem with the air pressure from the engine then Montoya would be behind you. It was impossible for Coulthard with the famous new car to follow you!'

Giancarlo himself knew that he could not have done a better job in the circumstances: "Considering my grid position, it's great," he smiled. "We should have done even better, but there was a problem in the pits, and we lost some time, and one position. Anyway, the car was fantastic today, I did a great job, and the team did very well. There was a problem quite soon after the first pit stop, but the engine was OK for me.

"The car had fantastic behaviour from the beginning to the end. It's the best car I had so far from the beginning of the season. We have the new parts, like the engine cover. We made a big step forward, which is very important for the future. It's been a great day. I was so confident in the car, I was much quicker than all the good competitors. This is very encouraging."

It's pretty obvious that the Bridgestones worked as well as they did on the Ferrari, but Fisi also had no doubts that the new bodywork had made the car much more user friendly.

"Honestly the car was good. Better rear end stability, better grip. Even at the beginning with lots of fuel it wasn't so bad. In the beginning I overtook a few cars that were even lighter than me."

One wonders what Giancarlo could have achieved from a normal grid position.

"It's frustrating, but you never know. You have to push from the beginning to the end. It's the best we can do. Considering my grid position, it's not so bad. We should do even better."

It's unlikely he could have bettered fifth, but the fact that Sauber can potentially shoot for top six places in normal circumstances must be worrying for everyone else to whom every point is worth its weight in gold.

Hockenheim is next. It's the track where Giancarlo could have scored his first win way back in 1997.

"I feel very confident,' he enthuses. 'I like the circuit there. Maybe it's not like Silverstone, very good for us, but I think we can do well too."